1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector, more particularly to a shielded electrical connector having an insulated terminal holding frame that is capable of holding a plurality of terminals in a superposed relationship such that the superposed terminals will occupy a relatively small amount of space when mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reducing the thickness, length and size of a computer, such as a desktop computer or a notebook computer, has always been the goal of manufacturers in the computer industry to make their products more attractive to consumers. However, it is noted that electrical connectors on the main board or the circuit board occupy a significant amount of space on the latter. It is therefore preferable to find some way of reducing the space occupied by an electrical connector on a circuit board without reducing the number of conductive terminals to reduce the size of the circuit board and permit further reduction in the dimensions of a computer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,595, there is disclosed an electrical connector that includes an insulated terminal holding frame, first and second sets of conductive terminals mounted respectively on upper and lower terminal holding plates of the terminal holding frame in a superposed relationship, and a metal shield that encloses the terminal holding frame. The shielding effect provided by the metal shield to the conductive terminals is inadequate because the metal shield has an open rear side. In addition, the metal shield is formed with a pair of tabs that extend from front edges of left and right shield walls and that are bent toward a partition plate between the upper and lower terminal holding plates of the terminal holding frame. When the electrical connector is installed in a housing of an electronic appliance, the tabs abut against the housing of the electronic appliance for grounding purposes. Because the tabs are formed directly on the metal shield, they cannot be formed to have relatively long lengths. As such, the grounding effect provided thereby is unsatisfactory.